Shower/Tubs with a Narrow Glass Panel

I hang it to drip dry while I get ready. If it's still wet, then I roll it up in my towel to dry it. That usually does the trick. I then roll it in a tight roll to fit along the side of my suitcase (inside).

I've never had a problem drying it quickly and easily, but I guess one could bring a plastic newspaper wrapper bag to slide it into.

I ve never considered the showers slippery , so I wouldn't even think about a bath mat.

As for wet floor, hello, their problem not mine. I do use my towel after I have used it, to wipe floor so I can put make up on after shower, I then throw it in tub and find a nice fresh one when I return to room, so no problem right?

A lot of times the entire bathroom in what is known as a "wet room", as Kent said the floor will have a drain and the whole room is designed so that water can go everywhere.

It's impossible to generalise about "Europe" like it was one country, wet rooms are very rare in my part of Europe but are very popular in the Nordic countries. In fact I believe Swedish building codes mandate them.

In Paris, our hotel where we regularly stay has a half glass shower panel and we have never had a problem- there are some tub/ showers that have no curtain or door at all- now that is fun.

I'm with Pat on this one -- it's the hotel's problem, not mine, if they don't provide some way of keeping the floor dry. And I'd never take up room in my suitcase with a bathmat.

I think this one of the many cross cultural moments that make travel the attitude expanding event that it is.

Many european people who take showers turn off the water between rinsing and lathering with soap/shampoo. The little glass partitions are adequate for containing the water for that, especially if the showerhead is the removable kind on a hose. However, as an earlier poster indicated, europe is not a cultural monolith, and the swedes have this great wet room arrangement. And there are other exceptions as well.

I just stayed at a hotel with the half-sized glass panel as a shower door, and you know what? It was fine for containing shower spray. That's the good news. The bad news? The shower was pretty anemic, so it wasn't much of a challenge for the door to keep the floor dry. But I have to say, those panels seem a lot easier to clean than full-sized shower doors, so I appreciate why they're used. If I ever remodeled our bathroom, I'd definitely consider them. So don't worry--you may well find that you won't spray the floor at all.

You might think about rubber soled shower shoes as an alternative to a bathmat. I have some grippy flipflops that I originally took traveling because I was nervous about bare feet and a shared shower down the hall. But they also made using a slippery stall floor safer. Try them at home and see what you think. They'll be lighter and more compact than a bathmat and you can use them even when you're not in the shower.

just hope you don't get a narrow glass panel in a bathroom with carpeting!

My flat is like that. Carpet in the bathroom is ew anyway but mold potential is worse! A power shower was installed without thought of overspray... and there is plenty of that! I bought a curtain rail and splash freely.

Thanks for all the comments. Both of our previous trips taught hubby and me that we splash too much to contain the water (even when we turned off water between soaping up and rinsing off). We just felt bad making a mess, not to mention that we hate stepping onto wet floors too. And sometimes the hotel staff is not too pleased to provide extra towels.

Shower shoes are an option I hadn't thought about, so I'm going to look for some to try out. If they don't work, then my trusty bath mat goes with me. Since it rolls up so tightly, it doesn't take up a lot of room in my suitcase. I'd rather have it than risk a nasty fall.

In a pinch, I've also used a hand towel in place of a bath mat. It's better than nothing. Again, sometimes extras are hard to get from the hotel staff.

I guess I'll stop worrying about soaking floors and just enjoy my vacation! LOL!

Ok, the small glass panel is one thing, but what's with the V shaped bathtub? I could really only stand with one foot in front of the other. I never tried a bath, so maybe they are better built for the butt and not the feet.

I'm all for experiencing other cultures, but that's just goofy.

I've been lots of places and have never seen a v-shaped bathtub. Where was this?

Ok, maybe "V" is a bit of an exageration, but in Paris the bottom of the tub was so narrow that I could not easily put both my feet next to each other. I have wide feet, but not that wide. I guess the bottom flat part of the tub was only about 6" - 8" wide. I like to work the kinks out of my body in the shower, but this just created more kinks.

Go to the dollar store and get a pair of flip flops.

Karen I know exactly what you mean about the very narrow bathtub bottoms. I think they were meant to be a water saving innovation. The shower was probably installed at a later date to accomodate those of us who shower. This was not common in europe untill the 70's or later. It can be very tricky.

Be careful if you go the cheapo flip-flops route. That was one of the things I tried and they definitely did not provide the secure traction I want on a slippery shower/tub surface. Of course, I guess I should have known that since I can't walk on tile floors and even some smooth concrete surfaces when the flip flops are wet.

The V-shaped tubs are dangerous. Last year in Baden-Baden, I slipped and fell out of the tub while showering. The shower curtain and rod came down and I had a few bruises but otherwise not hurt. I had not given a thought to packing a bath mat or shower slippers until this blog. Thanks for the suggestions.

Interesting-save the water IN the tub, but don't worry about all the water going OUT of the tub onto the floors and walls.

About the hand held shower head-there's always a moment when you lose control and spray the whole room, so I don't think that works with the glass half wall.